There’s always a temptation to try to predict the course of future events, and the world of computing is no exception. With everything seemingly becoming bigger, better and faster year on year, there’s an insatiable appetite for predictions, and some individuals seem dutybound to meet that demand. Today these people like to call themselves futurologists, and while this might give the practice an air of scientific respectability, in many cases it has to be said with hindsight that using a crystal ball would have been just as accurate. Intrigued? Then join us as we examine seven prophecies [...]

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Staying up to date with everything that’s going on in PCs and tech is almost impossible, so these are the ten technologies that you should be most aware of, as they’re the ones that’ll make the biggest difference to your life. 1. 3D gaming The fact that to get any kind of 3D image from a 2D screen means wearing a pair of sunglasses or worse means that three dimensional gaming isn’t quite as convincing as multitouch and natural user interfaces, even though the two have been commoditised at almost the same time. An Acer Aspire 5738 laptop with a 3D display costs about [...]

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Windows 7 is 234 per cent more popular than its predecessor. It’s official. OK, so that figure relates to the first few days of sales in the US, and the predecessor in question is Windows Vista, the Antichrist OS. Even so, pathologically mediocre as it may well be, Windows 7 was well received. What interests me is how this reflects a broader malaise that continues to blight the PC industry. What else but Microsoft’s ongoing near-monopoly can explain the continued success of an operating system that sports a near-total absence of real innovation? The broader problem involves the [...]

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